While at work today, I pulled the truck up on the lift to check out my alignment. All looked ok, just a bit negative camber on the right side, but still within specs.
Anyways, while doing a visual check under the front end, I noticed the lower control arms were resting on the front bump stops. I didn't even think about checking them after the install of the 2" Belltech lowering spindles.
I thought since I only did a spindle drop and did not alter the suspension any, that the control arm angles would have stayed the same. Guess I was totally wrong. A spindle drop not only changes the location of the hub bearing, but also changes the upper & lower control arm geometry.
Well, I trimmed about a 3/4" off and that got the bump stops off the control arms.
Went for test drive and was amazed how much smoother the ride was.
Guess with all this suspension knowledge I thought I had from a lot of research, it turns out that I'm not the suspension guru I thought I was for these trucks... Oh well, now I'm that much smarter!
Just thought I'd share something I over looked. Maybe others will find this issue as well from reading this.

Jim

 

thats normal. mine rest on the stops.

 

Yup!
I noticed it the same way. THe ride is much better once off of the stops a bit.

 

Mine rested on the stops from the factory.

 

I read somewhere that is the way GM designed them. Torsion bars are buy nature very linear in there spring rate, so GM uses the bump stops to provide more spring rate as the suspension is compressed. That's why they are so far in on the a-arm.

 

Right but I loosened up the tbars a little so i was more than just resting on them. The ride is much better since i've cut them in half.

 

Mine rested on there as well. I will still trim a bit off.

 

I removed them.

 

Even if they were designed to rest on them, the ride is much better without them resting on them. The front soaks up the rough a lot better. Less feed back and jarring!

Jim

 

Yea, those front bump stops make quite a difference in the smoothness of the ride. When I first lowered mine, I trimmed the factory Z71 bump stops by eye (prior to lowering), and they weren't touching at all. I thought it felt a little wishy washy to me. So I ordered a set of regular later model bump stops, (from an 03 I believe...they're a softer rubber as compared to the harder compound that the truck originally came with), and trimmed them so that they're just touching. It now rides more solid than with them not touching, but still a bit harsh with the 20's on. With the 16's, the ride is almost perfect. I think I may just remove them or get another set to trim down further for when I have the 20's in the summer, and use the set I have in there now for my winter set up.

I still need some shocks that were intended for a truck that's been lowered also...I think that will definitely help the ride quality.